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Cosmic Quick Takes For 6/9/10

Cosmic Quick Takes
Week of 6/9/10
Warning: Mature Content
IDW
Star Trek – Leonard McCoy: Frontier Doctor #3[[wysiwyg_imageupload:186:]]Byrne outdid himself with both story and art on this 3rd issue of the mini-series. This is the single best issue of IDW’s Star Trek efforts thus far. Everything worked. The cover teaser of McCoy treating a Pierson’s Puppeteer right out of Niven’s Ringworld series is great for a laugh. Byrne even winks at the readers, and Niven, with a short note embedded in the art thanking Niven for the “loan.” The story is reminiscent of the classic series episode, A Private Little War, but is actually better constructed than that rather mediocre episode of the original series. Byrne manages to incorporate many elements and characters from his previous Star Trek comics into this particular story for a very satisfying read. Fans of Dr. McCoy will absolutely love this series as it is literally the best, most accurate portrayal of the iconic character since the last movie featuring the original cast.
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Blue Water Comics
Logan’s Run: Last Day #3[[wysiwyg_imageupload:187:]]The modern re-boot of the classic novel continues with a visit to the undersea city of Molly. This was one of my favorite sections of the original novel; so I was anxious to see how the artist rendered the undersea city. I was not disappointed in overall concept. The comics story follows the events of the novel quite closely which should please Logan fans. The art is mediocre to good.
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Dark Horse
Solomon Kane: Death’s Black Riders #4 of 4[[wysiwyg_imageupload:188:]]The story and art fell apart in this last installment of what has been a mediocre to good series up to this point – ending this mini on somewhat of a sour note. I was disappointed as the series started strong enough and dark enough to have been written by REH himself. I just shook my head in disappointment at this most un-satisfying conclusion and this most un-satisfying art.
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Marvel Comics
Super Heroes #3[[wysiwyg_imageupload:189:]]In terms of both story and art, this is the strongest issue of MASH to date. I felt less “talked down to” than in any previous issue and Nova’s portrayal was less grating than it ever has been over the course of MASH. I really liked Nova’s throw down with Diamondhead – marking the best fight involving Nova for a MASH comic to date. Cliquet’s art and Tobin’s writing are both commendable this time out.
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Young Allies #1[[wysiwyg_imageupload:190:]]This was an impulse buy right off the shelf at the local comics shop. Man – I’m glad I made this purchase. This was a surprisingly good comic. Everything worked. The wrap-around cover was nicely done, Baldeon’s interior art is very good, and McKeever’s story is engaging. Nomad, Arana, Toro, Gravity, and Firestar are thrown together into a team to fight a group of young Super-villains, offspring of some of Marvel’s greatest villains. Don’t roll your eyes. It is well done all the way around. I’ll be picking up the next issue.
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Captain America #606[[wysiwyg_imageupload:191:]]I keep wanting to take this series off my pull list, but Brubaker’s writing and Guice’s art are so good that I can’t make myself quit reading. This literally read like a good novel. Brubaker is really stretching his cast of characters – and the addition of Baron Zemo as Bucky-Cap’s arch nemesis was just the shot in the arm this series needed. I wish Brubaker had written the upcoming Captain America movie. If he had, I’d be a lot less nervous about what to expect.
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Millar & McNiven's Nemesis #2[[wysiwyg_imageupload:192:]]Read the full review here on CBN! Millar’s “Evil Batman” story continues with Nemesis matching wits with the cop who destroyed his family. I couldn’t tell if Millar was playing it straight with all the homages to classic scenes from superhero comics and movies – or if he was parodying them. If parody was intended, it fell flat – coming across instead as a re-tread of many of the same concepts and action scenes we’ve seen before. I’m having a hard time maintaining my interest in this book. I can’t root for the titular character as he has no redeeming qualities; the protagonist is so generic as to be two dimensional – so I don’t care what happens to him. If McNiven’s art hadn’t been good, this comic would’ve been a “2” rating at best. As it is, I give it 2.5 Stars.
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Heroic Age: Prince of Power #2 of 4[[wysiwyg_imageupload:193:]]I miss Hercules! That being said, this mini is surprisingly good. I didn’t think Cho could carry a comic, but I was wrong. Pak and Van Lente deliver some great writing in this tale of Thor and Cho’s attempt to rescue Hercules. Brown’s art is quite good. This series is quite engaging and I’ll be seeing it through the next two issues.
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S.H.I.E.L.D. #2[[wysiwyg_imageupload:194:]]Not sure what I just read, but it was certainly beautifully rendered. The story continues to border on incomprehensible - but I have faith that Hickman will rectify this with next issue. If he doesn’t, I’ll begin to get frustrated with this series. Weaver’s art was truly impressive – and I think that plus the teaser image of Galactus appearing in next issue will keep readers coming back for more.
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X-Men: Hellbound #2 of 3[[wysiwyg_imageupload:195:]]Read the full review here on CBN! The attempted rescue of Magik from Limbo has quickly become a disastrous mission with several of the team falling victim to demonic possession. The story remains engaging, but the art took a dip in quality this issue. This remains a good mini kind of peripherally related to the Second Coming event. Rating:
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Heralds #2 of 5[[wysiwyg_imageupload:196:]]WTF!? The art nose-dived this issue – and the story was muddled with non-sense dialogue and riddled with attempts at humor which fell flat. I was regretting buying this issue after the first few pages and it never did redeem itself. What a huge disappointment this mini has been so far. This stuff is doing nothing to help Marvel’s obvious push of female characters except make me wonder if female characters can really carry a superhero comic.
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CQT’s Break-Out Books of the Week
The clear winner this week is Leonard McCoy: Frontier Doctor. Coming in a close second was the bizarre yet strangely compelling S.H.I.E.L.D. Quite a few titles came in with strong “3” ratings. Young Allies was the best new debut this week. Unless Heralds redeems itself next issue, I’ll be dropping it.
Article by: Timelord
The opinions expressed herein are purely the opinions of the author of this article and should not be construed as the official opinions of CosmicBookNews.